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Resident's complaint against Wilson stokes controversy

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
03/27/2013 09:15:37 PM MDT

Updated:
03/27/2013 09:19:33 PM MDT

Erie Mayor Joe Wilson
(Provided photo)

An Erie resident's decision this week to file an ethics complaint against Mayor Joe Wilson over his involvement in land deals on the western edge of town turned up the heat on a mayor already operating under a cloud of controversy.

Elisabeth Fisher, a 23-year resident of Erie, filed the complaint with the town's prosecutor questioning whether the role Wilson -- who is also chairman of Erie's urban renewal authority -- has played in real estate transactions at the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road constitutes a conflict of interest.

In her complaint, Fisher questioned whether Wilson used his office to make a profit on the sale of a parcel of land to the town and asked if the mayor was representing himself, Erie or a previous landowner in a second transaction at the corner.

The complaint has catapulted the investigation into the mayor's activities from one that had simply sought an advisory opinion from a judge to the appointment of a special prosecutor -- former Adams County Deputy District Attorney Brian McCoy -- to look into the matter.

McCoy, now in private practice in Denver, said Wednesday that he plans to hire an investigator soon. He said it would probably be a few weeks before he finishes his probe.

Fisher said Wednesday she didn't want to talk about the matter beyond what was in her complaint, but said she had become increasingly "concerned" with the mayor's actions.

"I hope they get to the bottom of it," she said.

Circumstances 'bother me'

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Wilson raised eyebrows earlier this month when he was ordered by a judge not to go within 100 yards of Karol Hopper, a woman who is renting a home on North 111th Street that Wilson wants to sell. A confrontation between the mayor and Hopper in late February brought police to the property and resulted in the temporary restraining order.

Wilson has a court hearing April 8 to determine whether the restraining order should be made permanent.

The mayor has said he has a professional background in real estate and that his work in that arena has nothing to do with his public office. On Wednesday, he sent a statement via his attorneys at Boulder-based law firm Frascona, Joiner, Goodman and Greenstein disputing Fisher's claims.

"The pending complaint is obviously politically motivated and without merit," the statement reads. "This complaint was brought by a local political activist and bitter critic of our mayor. As everyone knows, these sorts of political plays are not unusual in local government.

"Our system allows someone to bring complaints without doing due diligence in advance. Had the complainant or town conducted any initial investigation, they would've known that the suggestions of misconduct are baseless. It is unfortunate that someone who gives as much as Joe Wilson does to Erie has to go through this process. This type of mudslinging is small town politics at its worst and devoid of any real sense of fair play."

But Erie Trustee Jonathan Hager said he is bothered by Wilson's involvement in the purchase of the 5-acre parcel where Hopper lives, which the town's urban renewal authority decided against buying in December. Wilson lists himself as an agent, principal and co-listing broker for the property's new owner, Cheyenne, Wyo.-based MCB Trust.

A deed of trust filed Dec. 31, 2012, with Boulder County shows James McBride making an interest-free $260,000 loan to MCB for the property. Less than a month earlier, the urban renewal authority had been considering a purchase price on the property of $350,000.

"The circumstances of it bother me," Hager said. "And if it raises concerns with me, I'm sure it raises concerns among residents."

According to emails obtained by the Camera through an open records request, the mayor took a lead role in coordinating the contract between McBride, the former owner of the parcel, and the town. One email dated Nov. 30 shows Town Administrator A.J. Krieger asking the mayor if he was able to get "McBride to agree to an extension."

Wilson responded three days later: "Yes. I'll forward."

Fisher also said the mayor had a contract in August 2011 showing him as prospective buyer of another parcel at the corner, owned by the Nelson family, for $1.6 million. The Erie Urban Renewal Authority eventually bought the Nelson parcel for $2.5 million instead.

"There is a $900,000 difference between the price Mayor Wilson was prepared to pay for the Nelson property and the price the URA Board paid for it," Fisher says in her complaint. "Did Mayor Wilson profit from the sale of the Nelson property?"

Corner commercial target

While the question of whether the mayor violated Erie's ethics code has not yet been answered, Wilson says he has always been completely open about wanting to see commercial development come to the southeast corner of Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287. In an interview with the Camera last year, Wilson criticized a 1994 intergovernmental agreement Erie entered into with Lafayette and Boulder County pledging to keep the area rural. The IGA expires next year.

And Wilson is not alone in wanting to see something happen at that corner. Other emails obtained by the Camera show the Erie trustees discussing the best ways to prepare the parcels that make up the corner so that Target, or other big-box retailers, will locate there.

"It's no secret I publicly recommend investing in Erie at every opportunity, pledged that I will continue to do so and act on the promise," Wilson wrote to his fellow trustees March 4.

Not all of Wilson's colleagues think the mayor may have done something improper.

Trustee Paul Ogg wrote in a March 3 email that the claims against the mayor "appear to have no basis in reality." And Mayor Pro Tem Ronda Grassi wrote that she sees nothing wrong with the mayor's involvement in the purchase of the McBride property.

"At this point, I don't believe it has anything to do with Town business, town property or is it any of my business," she wrote to her fellow trustees.

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